A man is facing weapons and assault charges after allegedly pushing his mother-in-law to the floor and threatening to kill her late Christmas Eve.

Daniel B. Killay, 46, of 21 Betanray Court was arraigned Wednesday in Leominster District Court and charged with assault and battery on a person over age 60 with injury, assault with a dangerous weapon on a person over age 60, improper storage of a large-capacity firearm and improper storage of a firearm.

Mr. Killay was arrested early Christmas morning after his wife called police saying he was threatening to kill her parents. According to police reports filed with court documents, the incident started when Mr. Killay’s 69-year-old mother-in-law walked into a bedroom and saw him loading a pistol just before midnight on Christmas Eve. The victim told police she is from Connecticut, and with recent tragedies involving weapons, especially in Newtown, Conn., on her mind, she just reacted and grabbed the pistol from him.

She said Mr. Killay then grabbed the weapon back and shoved her face first onto the floor. The fall caused her nose to bleed. Then, he told her to stay in the room or he would kill her, she said.

At that point, Mr. Killay’s wife called police and said he had threatened to kill her parents. While she was talking to the police, he headed upstairs to where her two children, ages 8 and 14, were. She told police she was not sure if he was armed. She then found the pistol downstairs, but she was not sure what had happened to two rifles that had been in the living room.

Police met Mr. Killay’s wife outside the house and she gave them the pistol. Officers entered the house with their weapons drawn and eventually went upstairs, where they found Mr. Killay and the children in a bedroom. Officers were able to see he was not armed and arrested him. They also found two rifles in cases at the top of the stairs. One was not properly secured with a trigger lock.

After Mr. Killay was arrested, police said, his wife became upset and had second thoughts about calling the police. Seeing her daughter upset, Mr. Killay’s mother-in- law said she did not want to press charges and would post bail for him.

Police confiscated two pistols and two rifles from Mr. Killay.

Mr. Killay was arraigned before Judge Arthur F. Haley III and released on $1,000 cash bail on the condition that he surrender all firearms, refrain from consuming alcoholic beverages and not abuse the alleged victim in the case. He is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 13 for a pretrial hearing.